Officer Who Killed Man Has Good Record

August 9, 1994|By PHIL DAVIS Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH — In his five years on the police force, Officer John Battiloro has distinguished himself, tackling street-level crimes and narcotics investigations with impressive enthusiasm, records show.

He has racked up two dozen commendations for everything from murder arrests to prostitution busts, according to personnel records. In 1990, he was the agency's "Outstanding Rookie Officer."

Now Battiloro, 26, is on administrative leave with pay while Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents determine if he was justified when he fatally shot Yvon Guerrier, 42, outside the Dollar Saver Food Store, 2200 Lake Ida Road. Delray Beach police asked FDLE to investigate the slaying to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Mike Loffredo, a supervisor at FDLE's West Palm Beach office, said his agents spent the weekend and all day Monday going over evidence in the case. The inquiry could take a month.

"It looks like, at this point, that proper police procedure was being followed," Loffredo said on Monday. "We hope to bring it to a speedy conclusion."

Police said Battiloro was sent to the store to deal with Guerrier, a native of Haiti. A store clerk called police because Guerrier was harassing customers outside the store on Friday evening, police said. It is not clear what happened next, but Battiloro wound up in a struggle with Guerrier.

When Guerrier reached for Battiloro's nightstick, the officer pulled his 9 mm semiautomatic and fired two shots into the man's abdomen, police said. Guerrier died at Delray Community Hospital about 10 hours later.

A two-page description of Delray Beach police policy on deadly force allows officers to use fatal force when "there is no other alternative available at the time to prevent death of or serious bodily harm to the officer or another."

Ultimately, it will be up to the State Attorney's Office to determine if the shooting were justifiable. The state attorney has the option of turning the case over to a grand jury, which would then decide if there was enough evidence to file criminal charges in the case.

Friday's shooting was Battiloro's first use of deadly force, records show.

Battiloro has been investigated twice for use of nondeadly force while making an arrest, but in both cases, force was justified, internal affairs investigators determined.

In an August 1991 case, a man complained that a group of officers - including Battiloro - beat him while arresting him for a warrant. Investigators determined the man was being untruthful and had no visible injuries. The officers were exonerated.

In July 1993, an internal affairs investigator ruled that Battiloro was justified when he hit a man on the calf with a nightstick. The man, who was hiding under a car, had a dark object in his hands and didn't respond when Battiloro ordered him to show his hands and come out.

The man, who was not seriously hurt, did not file a complaint.

Records show Battiloro, a native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., worked as a stocker at a Boca Raton Publix before joining the Delray Beach Police Department in June 1989. He has racked up an impressive number of commendations - mostly for his work in the agency's Tactical Unit. The unit tackles street-level crimes such as drug sales and prostitution.

Most recently, he was commended for his work on a countywide narcotics task force.